Equipping Eve: Counted Worthy to Suffer

Is the church today doing everything it can to provide women a firm foundation of truth in Christ Jesus?

Well, it's true, there's no shortage of candy -coated Bible studies, potluck fellowships available to ladies.

But beyond Sunday morning, are Christian women being properly equipped to stand against the same deceptions that even enticed

Eve in the garden? In an attempt to address the need for trustworthy, biblical resources for women,

No Compromise Radio is happy to introduce Equipping Eve, a ladies -only radio show that seeks to equip women with fruits of truth in an age that's ripe with deception.

My name is Mike Abendroth and I'm pleased to introduce your host Erin Benzinger, a friend of No Compromise Radio and a woman who wants to see other women equipped with a love for and a knowledge of the truth of God's Word.

Well, hello ladies and welcome to Equipping Eve. I am your host Erin Benzinger and this is the show that seeks to equip women with fruits of truth from God's Word so that we can stand strong and firm on that Word in an age of deception.

Ladies, the Word of God must be our foundation. Everything that we do in life, our philosophy of life, if you will, must be built upon our theology and our theology is found in the

Word of God. This is where God has revealed Himself to us. This is how we know the way of salvation through the

Lord Jesus Christ. It is by the Word of God, the 66 inspired books of Holy Scripture and that is our foundation and that foundation, it is not going anywhere, it is not moving, it is not wavering and so when you are standing on that foundation, ladies, you should not stumble.

And so when we know the truth of what is contained in God's Word, we will recognize the error when it is thrown at us and it is constantly thrown at us, isn't it?

It's thrown at us in some of our churches, perhaps if we have attended a church that is less than faithful to the

Word of God, it is thrown at us in Christian bookstores and in parachurch ministries and it is thrown at us from the world, of course, we expect that.

We expect the world to twist Scripture and to deny

God's Word. But what we really need to be mindful of are the attacks that come from within the church.

Satan, of course, he has the world, he doesn't need to work to get the world, but when he is disguised within the church, that's where we need to be watching out, ladies, because Satan disguises himself as an angel of light and it is so easy to be deceived by Christian words and laughter and smiles and happiness and just freely feel -good teachings.

And ladies, just because it sounds good does not mean it's true.

It doesn't mean it's false, but it doesn't mean it's true and we must test everything against the

Word of God. And that's what we do here at Equipping Eve. We look at some sketchy things sometimes and compare them to the

Word of God. And sometimes we just dig into the Word itself and we don't need to worry about the false teachers because what is so much better than learning about a false teacher is learning about the true teacher, the true shepherd, the

Lord Jesus Christ. And today is another wonderful day to talk about him.

So we are going to dive into the Word, but you know, before we do that, we do, we talk about false teachings here.

And if you've listened for any length of time, you know that we have this little segment that we do from time to time and it's called, well, it's called a couple of things.

It's based on this little calendar called You're Already Amazing, which is actually based on a book by Holly Gerth.

And so I had this little flip calendar that gives me inspirational sayings every day.

And some of them, sometimes it's just a scripture verse and that's fine. Sometimes it's something that's really bizarre.

And sometimes it's something that really just doesn't make a lot of sense, but you know, it's meant to be one of those things that makes you feel good and gives you a warm fuzzy.

And so you're supposed to go out and be empowered for the day, I guess. And so we also sometimes call this segment

Just Be Awesome, because the calendar is called You're Already Amazing. And it encourages us to just be awesome.

It likes to ignore the fact that we are sinners, that we are born with a fallen, sinful nature, and that apart from regeneration by the

Holy Spirit, we will continue to be wicked, deceitful, depraved sinners destined for condemnation and God's wrath.

If you just ignore that and focus on how awesome you are, then you get a lot more warm fuzzies that way.

So here I'm looking at my Just Be Awesome calendar, and it says, We as women often do go to battle.

We fight cancer. We fight for our marriages. We fight for our children.

And in doing so, we help. That's it. I don't know what that means, but I am supposed to be inspired by it.

So I'll let you know when that inspiration kicks in. And if you don't hear from me, you know that it just fell flat, because I don't understand the purpose of this particular entry.

So thanks, Holly Girth, for nothing. So I was thinking this week about one of my favorite passages of Scripture.

And it's a passage I actually don't come to all that often. I don't know that many of us do necessarily.

You know, often when we're studying Scripture, we maybe want to study the

Psalms, we want to study the Epistles, and all of that is good and rich and wonderful.

But often in our personal study, and maybe I'm wrong here, but it's not my first inclination to go necessarily to the book of Acts.

You know, Acts is about the early church, and it's the building of that early church. And it's an amazing history of how

God used the apostles and how he started to build his church.

But so often, well, first of all, so often the book is twisted for church growth purposes and many seeker -sensitive churches.

But you know, it is a book that's preached from quite often, because it is the foundation of the church, and that's good.

But in our personal study, it might not be something we turn to. But I have a passage in Acts that I love, and it's kind of lengthy.

Really, my favorite verse, the point that I'm going to be getting to is at the end of it. But it is a lengthy passage, and for context, we're going to read the whole thing and talk a little bit about it.

So ladies, if you would turn to Acts chapter 5, and we're going to start in verse 17.

So in the early chapters of Acts here, Peter is really front and center and preaching and proclaiming

God's word. And so in verse 17 of chapter 5, we read, But the high priest rose up, along with all his associates, that is, the sect of the

Sadducees, and they were filled with jealousy. They laid hands on the apostles and put them in a public jail.

But during the night, an angel of the Lord opened the gates of the prison, and taking them out, he said, Go, stand and speak to the people in the temple the whole message of this life.

Upon hearing this, they entered into the temple about daybreak and began to teach. Now, when the high priest and his associates came, they called the council together, even all the senate of the sons of Israel, and sent orders to the prison house for them to be brought.

But the officers who came did not find them in the prison. And they returned and reported back, saying,

We found the prison house locked quite securely and the guards standing at the doors. But when we had opened up, we found no one inside.

Verse 24. Now, when the captain of the temple guard and the chief priest heard these words, they were greatly perplexed about them as to what would come of this.

But someone came and reported to them, The men whom you put in prison are standing in the temple and teaching the people.

Then the captain went along with the officers and proceeded to bring them back without violence, for they were afraid of the people that they might be stoned.

When they had brought them, they stood them before the council. The high priest questioned them, saying,

We gave you strict orders not to continue teaching in this name, and yet you have filled

Jerusalem with your teaching and intend to bring this man's blood upon us. Verse 29.

But Peter and the apostles answered, We must obey God rather than men. There's a whole lesson right there, ladies, but we're going to keep going.

Verse 30. The God of our fathers raised up Jesus whom you had put to death by hanging him on a cross.

He is the one whom God exalted to his right hand as a prince and a savior to grant repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.

And we are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him. But when they heard this, they were cut to the quick and intended to kill them.

But a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law, respected by all the people, stood up in the council and gave orders to put the men outside for a short time.

And he said to the men of Israel, Take care what you propose to do with these men. For some time ago,

Judas rose up, claiming to be somebody, and a group of about 400 men joined up with him. But he was killed, and all who followed him were dispersed and came to nothing.

After this man, Judas of Galilee rose up in the days of the census and drew away some people after him.

He too perished, and all those who followed him were scattered. So in the present case, I say to you, stay away from these men and let them alone.

For if this plan or action is of men, it will be overthrown. But if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them, or else you may even be found fighting against God.

Again, ladies, we could discuss those brief verses about Gamaliel's words, but we're going to keep going.

Verse 40. They took his advice, and after calling the apostles in, they flogged them and ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and then released them.

So they went on their way from the presence of the council. Rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for his name.

And every day in the temple and from house to house, they kept right on teaching and preaching Jesus, the

Christ. Ladies, the verse I was trying to get to was verse 41.

The apostles were flogged. They were beaten. And they went on their way from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for the name of Christ.

And they went on and they continued to preach and to proclaim Christ. They were flogged.

They were beaten. They were persecuted. This was the foundation of the church.

And this was not just being punched in the stomach. This was not a schoolyard fight. Flogging was serious business.

It was whipping. It was severe beating. And ladies, what we have to realize in the face of persecution, the world is not after you because it hates you.

It's after you because it hates Christ. John MacArthur says,

Those blows had been meant for Jesus. They, the apostles, were standing in his place.

Taking the blows meant for him. What an honor. That must be why they rejoiced.

Now today there is a lot of talk about persecution, especially here in America, and I don't think we fathom true persecution.

And I don't mean to belittle some of those Christians or professing Christians who have lost their jobs or other economic circumstances because of their faith.

And I give people much credit for standing up for what they know is right and standing up for what they believe based upon the word of God.

But true, I don't want to say true persecution is not losing your job.

That is persecution. But it can be so much worse. And I dare say that there are many in America today who have the wrong focus when it comes to speaking about persecution.

We see a lot of articles about people baking the cake or not baking the cake or should we bake the cake or shouldn't we bake the cake?

And oh, it's so horrible that they can't bake the cake or that they could had to bake the cake or whatever. But ultimately, what these arguments come down to is people decrying the loss of religious freedom, religious liberty.

Look, I agree. Religious freedom, of course, this is something that has been a foundation of America.

But guess what? God never promised us religious freedom.

Religious liberty is not promised to us in the scripture. And thou shalt experience no persecution and eternal religious liberty so long as thou liveth in America.

No, it's not there. Point me to the Bible verse that promises you religious freedom. It's not there, ladies.

It's not there. And so when there are so many Christians that are complaining about the loss of religious liberty, their focus is wrong.

They're worried about this life. But shouldn't we instead count ourselves, consider ourselves honored to suffer for Christ?

John Calvin writes about these verses in Acts. We must not think that the apostles were so senseless, but that they felt some shame and did also lament when they felt the punishment, for they had not quite put off nature, meaning man's fallen nature.

But when they considered the cause, then joy got the upper hand. So the faithful must be two manner of ways, affection, so often as they suffer persecution for the gospel.

They must be touched with the bitterness of punishments, yet so that they overcome the sorrow with spiritual joy.

He goes on and talks about the phrase that they were counted worthy and says, this might seem at the first blush absurd in that Luke places honor and reproach, but the disagreement which is between God and the world causes this, but that which is counted amongst men most reproachful, excelleth in dignity and glory in the sight of God and his angels.

We know that the kind of death which Christ suffered was of all others most shameful, and yet did he triumph most nobly upon the cross.

So when we are made like unto him, we may worthily boast that it is a point of singular excellency that we suffer rebuke in the sight of the world.

Thus doth Paul boast of the marks of Christ in Galatians 6, 17.

For we must here respect the cause which doth associate us unto Christ, who doth not only swallow up the shame of the world with his glory, but doth also turn reproaches, slanders, and mocks of the world into great honor.

Wherefore, it is no marvel that there be so few found which are strong and stout to bear the cross, because we are almost all drowned and overwhelmed with the sense of the flesh.

And there is scarce one amongst a hundred which consider that the reproach of Christ doth far excel all the triumphs of the world, which is the only matter of comfort.

Wherefore, we must use the greater diligence in thinking upon the sentence that we are at this day made partakers of the sufferings of Christ, that we may be partakers of his glory.

The verse in Galatians that Calvin referred to,

Galatians 6, 17, Paul writes, from now on, let no one cause trouble for me, for I bear on my body the brand marks of Jesus.

Ladies, we must expect persecution. We are told in scripture to expect this.

Luke also says in chapter 14, verse 26, if anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.

Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.

And if you place Christ above these people and these things, you will be persecuted.

But what an honor, what a glory. Paul considered it an honor to bear the brand marks of Jesus.

In Philippians, the first chapter, verse 12 and following, we see some of the fruit that God was good to show

Paul, some of the fruit of his sufferings and his persecution. Verse 12, now

I want you to know, brethren, that my circumstances have turned out for the greater progress of the gospel, so that my imprisonment in the cause of Christ has become well known throughout the whole praetorian guard and to everyone else, and that most of the brethren, trusting in the

Lord because of my imprisonment, have far more courage to speak the word of God without fear.

What a gift for the Lord to give to Paul. And then verse 29 of that first chapter of Philippians, Paul writes, for to you it has been granted for Christ's sake, not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for his sake, experiencing the same conflict which you saw in me and now here to be in me.

It has been granted to you to suffer for his sake. Jesus himself told us in Matthew 5, blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.

Rejoice and be glad for your reward in heaven is great, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Do you think the apostles remembered their Lord saying this and telling them, rejoice and be glad when people insult you and persecute you for the sake of righteousness, for your reward in heaven is great.

And so they left the council flogged, beaten, and rejoicing that they were considered worthy to suffer for the name of Jesus Christ.

Acts 14 tells us that we must enter the kingdom of God through many tribulations in verse 22,

Acts 14, 22. In Acts 9, the

Lord is speaking to Ananias and telling him to go and find

Paul, who the Lord has converted. And in Acts 9, 16, the

Lord says to Ananias, I will show him, meaning Paul, how much he must suffer for my name's sake.

We are promised suffering. 1

Peter chapter 2, verse 18, servants be submissive to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and gentle, but also to those who are unreasonable.

For this finds favor, if for the sake of conscience toward God, a person bears up under sorrows when suffering unjustly.

For what credit is there if when you sin and are harshly treated, you endure it with patience, but if when you do what is right and suffer for it, you patiently endure it.

This finds favor with God. Do you see the reward? We are promised that we will have trials and tribulations and persecution and suffering, but we will be rewarded in favor with God.

Not that we do things to be rewarded, but we can know in the promises of God, yes, you're promised in this temporary life, injustice, persecution, suffering, but it is for the glory of God.

Look what Christ endured. Look at what Christ endured.

In 2 Corinthians 11, Paul details some of his sufferings. Some of them were natural disasters, if you will.

He was shipwrecked, but much of it is persecution, beaten with rods, stoned, dangers from countrymen, dangers from Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers among false brethren.

Paul did not live the comfortable life that so many prosperity preachers would like to promise us if we would simply pray a prayer, come to their false

Jesus, and oh, also write them a big check. And in the midst of all of his sufferings, the

Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 12, 10 says, I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties for Christ's sake.

For when I am weak, then I am strong. Our Lord said, remember the word that I said to you, a slave is not greater than his master.

If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will keep yours also.

He who hates me hates my father also. And when they persecute you, ladies, whether it is mild persecution in the grand scheme of history, or whether it is something intense like we have seen throughout church history, they are persecuting

Christ because the world has hated Christ before it has hated us.

And it hates us because it hates Christ. 2

Timothy 3, verse 12, Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

Scripture promises persecution. It does not promise religious freedom.

Period. End of story. And that's okay.

Because our Lord is good and faithful. And it is an honor to suffer for him and for his name's sake.

I wonder, ladies, if you've ever read any passage from Foxe's Book of Martyrs.

I hope you have. I hope you have a copy of this. You can buy a hard copy.

You can get it on Kindle pretty cheap, maybe even free. And I'm fairly certain that it can be obtained for free online as well.

Foxe's Book of Martyrs details the history of the church, the persecutions of the church through the ages at the hands of many who hate

Christ, who hated Christ. And we may think that there are just a lot of stories of men being burned at the stake in this book.

But ladies, if you look at it, there were women, many, many women who also died for the cause of Christ.

Died because they refused to recant their Christian faith.

Died because they would not deny the Lord and Savior and Master who bought them.

And I read these stories, these accounts. These are not fairy tales. These are true.

And I read them and I wonder, would I be that strong?

And I wonder why we are crying because we were told we were supposed to bake a cake.

And I wonder why we are crying because the worldly government wants to take away our religious freedom when

Jesus never promised us that we would have that in the first place. It was a gift from him that we have been able to live in this particular country for so long with so much freedom.

But if that is taken away from us, it doesn't matter. It doesn't stop the cause of Christ.

It doesn't weaken our faith. No, no, no, no.

It strengthens it because we see that what the

Lord promised is coming to pass. And we see if we suffer, whether it seems mild or major, we see that God is good to allow us to bear the brand marks of Jesus.

God is good to allow us to be persecuted for his name's sake.

So ladies, to close, I'd like to read the account of Mrs. Joyce Lewis from Fox's Book of Martyrs.

It reads, this lady was the wife of Mr. T. Lewis of Manchester. She had received the

Romish religion as true until the burning of that pious martyr, Mr.

Saunders, at Coventry. Understanding that his death arose from a refusal to receive the mass, she began to inquire into the ground of his refusal, and her conscience, as it began to be enlightened, became restless and alarmed.

In this inquietude, she resorted to Mr. John Glover, who lived near and requested that he would unfold those rich sources of gospel knowledge he possessed, particularly upon the subject of transubstantiation.

He easily succeeded in convincing her that the memory of potpourri and the mass were at variance with God's most holy word, and honestly reproved her for following too much the vanities of a wicked world.

It was to her indeed a word in season, for she soon became weary of her former sinful life and resolved to abandon the mass and idolatrous worship.

Though compelled by her husband's violence to go to church, her contempt of the holy water and other ceremonies was so manifest that she was accused before the bishop for despising the sacramentals.

A citation addressed to her immediately followed, which was given to Mr. Lewis, who, in a fit of passion, held a dagger to the throat of the officer and made him eat it, after which he caused him to drink it down and then sent him away.

But for this the bishop summoned Mr. Lewis before him, as well as his wife, the former, readily submitted, but the latter resolutely affirmed that, in refusing holy water, she neither offended

God nor any part of his laws. She was sent home for a month, her husband being bound for her appearance, during which time

Mr. Glover impressed upon her the necessity of doing what she did, not from self -vanity, but for the honor and glory of God.

Mr. Glover and others earnestly exhorted Lewis to forfeit the money he was bound in, rather than subject his wife to certain death, but he was deaf to the voice of humanity and delivered her over to the bishop, who soon found sufficient cause to consign her to a loathsome prison, whence she was several times brought for examination.

At the last time, the bishop reasoned with her upon the fitness of her coming to Mass and receiving as sacred the sacrament and sacramentals of the

Holy Ghost. If these things were in the word of God, said Mrs. Lewis, I would, with all my heart, receive, believe, and esteem them.

The bishop, with the most ignorant and impious effrontery, replied, If thou wilt believe no more than what is warranted by scriptures, thou art in a state of damnation.

Astonished at such a declaration, this worthy sufferer ably rejoined that his words were as impure as they were profane.

After condemnation, she lay a twelve month in prison, the sheriff not being willing to put her to death in his time, though he had been but just chosen.

When her death warrant came from London, she sent for some friends, whom she consulted in what manner her death might be more glorious to the name of God and injurious to the cause of God's enemies.

Smilingly, she said, As for death, I think but lightly of. When I know that I shall behold the amiable countenance of Christ, my dear

Savior, the ugly face of death does not much trouble me. The evening before she suffered, two priests were anxious to visit her, but she refused both their confession and absolution when she could hold a better communication with the high priest of souls.

About three o 'clock in the morning, Satan began to shoot his fiery darts by putting into her mind to doubt whether she was chosen to eternal life and Christ died for her.

Her friends readily pointed out to her those consolatory passages of scripture which comfort the fainting heart and treateth the

Redeemer who taketh away the sins of the world. About eight o 'clock the sheriff announced to her that she had but an hour to live.

She was at first cast down, but this soon passed away, and she thanked God that her life was about to be devoted to his service.

The sheriff granted permission for two friends to accompany her to the stake, an indulgence for which he was afterward severely handled.

Mr. Reniger and Mr. Bernher led her to the place of execution, in going to which, from its distance, her great weakness and the press of the people she had nearly fainted.

Three times she prayed fervently that God would deliver the land from potpourri and the idolatrous mass and the people for the most part, as well as the sheriff, said amen.

When she had prayed, she took the cup which had been filled with water to refresh her and said, I drink to all them that unfaintedly love the gospel of Christ and wish for the abolition of potpourri.

Her friends and a great many women of the place drank with her, for which most of them afterward were in joint penance.

When chained to the stake, her countenance was cheerful, and the roses of her cheeks were not abated.

Her hands were extended toward heaven, until the fire rendered them powerless, when her soul was received into the arms of the creator.

The duration of her agony was but short, as the undersheriff, at the request of her friends, had prepared such excellent fuel that she was in a few minutes overwhelmed with smoke and flame.

The case of this lady drew a tear of pity from everyone who had a heart not callous to humanity.

I wonder, ladies, if we were being led to a stake to be burned, if we would think on the fact that we will soon see the face of our savior be welcomed into his house for eternity, or would we cling to this life?

Would we cling to the religious freedom that an earthly government promised us and then later seemingly took away?

Would we count ourselves worthy to suffer in the midst of persecution, whether it is as extreme as being burned at the stake or whether it is losing our business or our job?

Would we walk away rejoicing that we were considered worthy to suffer for the sake and name of our

Lord Jesus Christ? I hope you'll think on that this week, ladies.

I know I will. And thank our God that we do live in the place and the time where we live and pray for strength as circumstances change so that we might rejoice that we are considered worthy should we suffer.

Ladies, until next time, get in your Bibles, get on your knees, and get equipped.

Thanks for listening. You've been listening to Equipping Eve, a

No Compromise radio production. If you'd like to get a hold of Erin, you can reach her at equippingeve at gmail .com,

or you can check out one of our two websites, donotbesurprised .com or equippingeve .org.